Supply and Demand

[_Kynwric_]

Madoc kept his gaze on Mordre as she pulled away, his brain wasn't engaged and he was having a hard time making sense of what she was saying. When the words she was saying finally made it through the haze she'd created in his mind the first thing to come out of his mouth was a very un-suave "Ummm..." Madoc gaze a serious shake of his head, loosening his shoufa some as he did so. He wanted to tell her all these articulate things, express himself in words, but he was no gleeman and the best way to get her to understand what he was feeling was to just kiss her again. So he did, dropping his spears to the ground and wrapping both his arms around her, he lifted her up so their lips could meet again and he kissed her thoroughly there in the setting sunlight on the edge of the great desert nothing where no one could see them or hear them.

[U4ea]

Mordre squeaked as his arms wrapped around her, but it was smothered in his lips. Her arms were around his shoulders, her lips returning his kiss, and her blood singing in her veins, pushing any other thought out of her head with a violent shove.

Her limbs felt heavy when she pulled her head away, her swollen lips stretching into a small smile. "That would be the answer to that question, don't you agree?"

 

She cleared her throat, making no move to pull away from him. "We should find the roots before it gets to dark, so we can harvest them and return to the Hold in the morning..."

~Mordre

[_Kynwric_]

"I think it would answer the question quite thoroughly." Magic responded as he let her feet settle back to the sandy earth.

He took a glance at the setting sun and shook his head in disagreement. "We should set up camp with what remains of the light, the digging can begun in the morning. You said we had three days, no need to take risks, not here. It gets cold fast in this post of the three-fold land."

[U4ea]

Mordre nodded, clearing her throat. "I'll get camp set up, you scout around and make sure nothing will sneak up on us." She needed something mundane for her hands to do and she doubted very seriously that she could even consider focusing on anything but the memory of that kiss for a while. She watched him walk away from her, feeling a slight chill against her skin as he pulled away. With a mental shake, she set about making camp a few paces away from where they'd stopped. 

 

Please, let the deadly bugs be sleeping, she thought as she cleared a space for a small fire, circling the ring with stones dug up from the ground and filled with brush she'd cleared away. She smiled a little and tested a trick Shri had shown her, twisting elements together to trap the smoke in a bubble. She looked about, wondering what to do with the bubble when she spied Madoc returning. 

 

The smile spread and she didn't stop it. "Tell me you found dinner while you were out..." 

 

~Mordre

[_Kynwric_]

Madoc nodded his agreement, not exactly trusting his mouth to not scree things up for him, them, now.

 

It took time to properly about the area and the sun was nearly gone behind the rum of the earth when he returned a pair of sand snakes in his hand. "I do, actually... Snake. A good fire and we'll eat well tonight." He looked at camp, narrowing his brie at the bubble of smoke, but then shrugged and let her do as she wished. It didn't affect anything important. "No sign of anyone... Should be a quiet night... But cold."

[U4ea]

Cold... they'd have to stay close to each other for warmth. If he was close to her all night, she'd probably...

 

She cleared her throat and nodded at the snakes. "I have the fire. Would you like me to roast them or filet and fry them?" She smiled, trying to cover the sudden heat in her cheeks. She barely waited for an answer before letting the bubble of smoke go. He'd said there wasn't a sign of anyone, so they were safe with a fire. "I can roast them in the coals while we finish laying our camp?" 

[_Kynwric_]

"Yes, please." He handed over the snakes over to Mordre, "anything hot would be better than eating into our stores we may need later." He watched for a moment and then helped clean the kills so she could begin cooking quicker. Once the meat was sizzling over the fire he looked at what she'd done with camp. "There doesn't look to be much left to do, you are very efficient while I was gone." He looked from the fire to Mordre, examining her by the light. He'd known that one he'd made the decision to not seek death in fighting the Shadow's creatures that he'd have to revisit things he'd thought gone forever. One of those things was this woman, whom at one time he'd had a childhood frustration with and insist on with and now had feelings of a much more serious nature. "Mordre..."

[U4ea]

Mordre kept the fire smoking, tending the snake as it cooked on the coals. Madoc said something about the camp that she let slide without comment ( did he think she forgotten how to set up camp?), deciding to let it go. She didn't feel like arguing, not after those kisses...

She felt his eyes on her and looked up at him when he said her name. The look in his eye and the way he said her name made her shiver. She looked away, poking at the fire again in an attempt to keep herself from doing something...

 

Something what? Something she'd regret? Not likely to happen. Unless she burned dinner, she might regret that...

 

She's took a deep breath and looked up at him, again, their eyes meeting over the dancing flames. "Yes, Madoc?"

 

~Mordre

[_Kynwric_]

"Nothing, never mind, it wasn't important." His eyes flicked to the pan as the grease from the meat spat. He then returned his eyes to Mordre's. It was as if those kisses earlier had changed everything between them and gee couldn't think straight around her anymore. Finally he asked, "I thought I'd given you up for good when I was going to be a Thunder Walker, now that all had changed I want to have what we'd discussed as children... Except that you will lead and guide the chief's instead of the other way around."

[U4ea]

Mordre stared at him for a moment, remembering those conversations before his father's death. That had been so long ago! Memories of those silly plans danced in her head.

 

She smiled a bit and pulled the pan out of the coals. "The plans that involved sharing a roof so you'd be free to train and not have the scores of drooling Maidens pandering around after you, causing a distraction? And me threatening the Maidens who dared to distract you?"

 

She grinned at the naive plans they'd made, each catering to the grand plans they'd had for their lives before reality had jumped in to destroy them. Maidens didn't live with men, they set their spears down for them. They'd never considered what sharing a roof really meant, either. Note that they were older...

 

She eyed him for a moment, flying her head to the side. "Madoc, why are we assuming that my life is the only one they're manipulating? As you said, I am one of the strongest Apprentices in a really long time. No offense, but why would they be content to the her to just another Stone Dog? What if I'm not the only one who would guide a chief?"

 

~Mordre

[_Kynwric_]

Madoc gave her a smile, "we're not. Or at least I'm not. I've just spent my entire life with and around Wise Ones. I'm used to having my life messed with." He sighed, "right now, since I'm too be a Stone Dog, my mother has begun dropping hints about Rhuidean." He shrugged, "but, I think that answers your question about hitching you to me. It seems there are grand plans afoot for us."

[U4ea]

Mordre breathed at how easily he seemed to accept that. "Clan Chief?" She asked, her brows knitting together. "You've accepted that? Truly?"

 

She settled back, portioning out the snake and settling in to eat. "You've accepted all of this? Me? The Sept? The future you've no control over?"

[_Kynwric_]

"Perhaps, in time, I do not think it is an eminent necessity. As for accepting it, have you meet Shri? Have you ever seen anyone tell her no and not change their mind?"

 

He squatted near the fire, the wind was beginning to pick up in promise of the rest of the night. "I've accepted you, that was hardly a hardship, I've accepted I've more to do than dying in or near the waste. The Sept will survive, with our without me, but I will do my duty to it. As for my life, the wheel weaves as the wheel wills... To be honest none of us has control, we just think we do. If Rhuidean is in my future it will come to pass whether I want it or not and if it is not Shri and my mother cannot force the pattern to it... Or I do not think they can, anyway."

[U4ea]

Mordre sighed and nodded. Perhaps he was right about the Pattern making this choice for them. It would explain why she felt this way, at least. "I apologize for what I said earlier. About only feeling brotherly affection." She smiled hesitantly. "I think we've proven that is incorrect."

 

She ate a bit, watching him across the fire. She envied his ability to just accept the things rolling at him with such ease. Perhaps, as he said, it was something he'd considered at some point in his life, anyway, which made it easier to accept. For herself, it wasn't that easy. She'd never considered anything beyond becoming a Maiden. Could she live the rest of her life with him? She'd lived this much of it with him, so more wouldn't be out of the question. Especially with these new feelings raging through her whenever he got close. She cleared her throat before she went too far down that road. 

 

"What happens next?" she asked quietly, shifting her gaze to the fire before she lept at him over it. "Stolen moments when Shri lets me free from my duties? Hidden moments on rooftops?"  She was half-joking when she said it, but she was truly afraid that's all she could offer him for a while to come. She wasn't anywhere near completing her training and she doubted, whether they were behind this relationship or not, that the Wise Ones would let her out of training to spend more time with him. It wasn't something they could afford to do overmuch. 

 

~Mordre

[_Kynwric_]

Madoc nodded an acceptance of her apology, "It was a small thing," it wasn't anything to make a big deal out of and to do so would earn him more Toh than lying had earned Mordre. "As for where we go from here. At least until your apprenticeship is done, I think that what moments we have is what we have, you have duties, as do I and neither of us will shirk them. I think that the Wise Ones will find a way to put us together enough to encourage... since this is all their idea." He finished his bit of food and stood, stretching out his tall frame before shifting to sit beside Mordre as opposed to across from her. "Besides, if you are diligent and as talented as they say, you should not be an apprentice long."

[U4ea]

Mordre looked up at him as he moved closer, her heart thumping in her chest. "I would rather not have that to look forward to. Shri has only just started teaching me how to weave elements. There is much to do from now..."

 

It was hard for her to think with him this close and she wondered when that had changed. She'd been running next to him all day and it hadn't bothered her this much. Was it because of the idleness of the evening? Knowing they had nothing else to do but entertain one another? She cleared her throat., looking away from him and brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face. "How much training do you have, then?" She asked, her voice a little hoarse. It wasn't like he was sitting around waiting on her, after all...

 

 

~Mordre

[_Kynwric_]

"I do not know, when we return from this trip I petition the Stone Dogs to take me in. I have no idea what that will entail, yet." Madoc was staring into the fire as he sat near her, the wind blowing across his back on the other side of the fire had been chilling him and now at least it picked up some of the warmth from the flames before hitting him in the face. A particularly strong gust made him turn his head towards Mordre to keep from getting smoke and ash in his face, but he left it turned that way when he noticed that she'd pushed her hair back from her face. He couldn't resist then, he just leaned over and kissed her cheek, it wasn't much more than a brush of his lips against her skin but it seemed like much, much more.

[U4ea]

Mordre nodded as he spoke of petitioning the Stone Dogs. What that encompassed was a closely guarded secret, which was no small task in a Sept this close. She closed her eyes against the smoke from the fire and jumped at the feel of his lips on her cheek. It was the faintest brush of sensation, but it set off every nerve in her body.

 

She turned her head, her lips a breath away from his. "I'm not sure I'm ever going to get used to this...."

 

~Mordre

[_Kynwric_]

Madoc looked into her eyes as she spoke, "We'll have plenty of time for the getting used to it, just have to practice." He held her eyes with his and reach out out tentatively to place his hand atop hers and then leaned in the bare inch it took to kiss her again. Certainly they cold spend the evening talking, making plans, discussing the next days work, whatever. He'd rather just kiss the girl he'd made silly plans with as a child and worry about their future plans later, there were too many variables to work out for their adult minds and he just wanted to live in the fantasy they'd generated for themselves a little while longer. The rest could wait until they were back in the hold.

[U4ea]

She didn't jump at the touch of his lips this time, perhaps because she hadn't been able to take her eyes off of them while he'd been talking. There were so many things they should discuss. Since they were giving in to this, they had plans to make, a life to discuss. Their dreams had changed since the last they'd made plans as children, after all!

 

Instead, she laid her hand on his cheek and landed closer.

 

~Mordre

[_Kynwric_]

The rest of that evening was an effort in exploration and in keeping warm, the fire was small and grew smaller as the night wore on. By morning it was a burnt out ash pile. All Madoc knew on waking was that one side of him was warm, very warm and the other was not nearly so comfortable. He opened his eyes slowly to find Mordre pressed up against him under the blankets they were sharing. He hesitated to move until he knew she was awake, that and he was enjoying the closeness they were sharing. At least the wind has died down, that would have been miserable to travel in, he thought.

[U4ea]

Mordre didn't want to wake, not as warm as she was. The blankets were snuggled around her and... She opened her eyes slowly, her lips spreading into a smile seeing the chest her face was snuggled into. "I wasn't dreaming," she murmured, looking up at Madoc slowly. "I was worried that I was."

 

She caught the sun peaking out from the edge of the earth and sighed. There was a little boy with big dreams waiting for her to return to the Hold. He'd never make if if she didn't get those roots dug up and returned to Shri.

 

"Breakfast," she giggled, reached for her bag, digging out a bit of dried meat and bread and handing him some without leaving the warmth of their little cocoon. "May as well enjoy these moments while we have them, right?"

 

~Mordre

[_Kynwric_]

Madoc smiled as she offered him breakfast in bed, such as it was. "May as well." When they'd finished eating he gave a repressed sigh, there was no more stalling now. They did have something to accomplish today and it was imperative that it be done. So he rose and replaced his shoufa, before beginning to break camp.

 

Once all was in readiness, "You lead, you know where we're headed and what we're looking for."

[U4ea]

Mordre laughed as they ate, wrapped in the blankets. She watched him move around the camp, a smile of appreciation on her lips until she couldn't avoid getting up and helping break camp. She hummed under her breath, double checking her straps on her pack as he spoke.

 

She nodded and started walking, rather than running, hoping to find the herbs she was looking for with having to travel all the way to Termool. She found the bright blue flower of the trenal plant and smiled. She pulled skins from her pack and a small shovel, then started digging, collecting the whole plant as much as possible. Maybe she could get this to grow at Shri's, which would cut down on having to travel to get it.

 

She smiled at Madoc as she worked, though she didn't stop until she'd amassed a large bag full of the plants, all wrapped in separate skins. She looked at the sun and realized they'd have to stop once more on the way home she to time.

 

"Care for something to eat before we start or trek home?" She asked, sealing up her pack and stowing her supplies.

 

~Mordre

[_Kynwric_]

Madoc watched as Mordre not sauntered her herbs, he wasn't expecting any trouble from other Aiel, and in any case Mordre was safe from white in any case, he did keep an eye out for critters though; and managed to kill a couple more things for dinner tonight.

 

At Mordre's question he shook his head, he'd been snacking while she worked. "Let's get to a good place to camp and set up. Then we can cook and eat well again tonight. We should be able to make the Hold by midday tomorrow, I think."